We sat down with idol and voice actress Sally Amaki! She is known for her roles as Kiriko (Overwatch), Carol Oston (Tomochan is a Girl) and Sakura Fujima (22/7). A Japanese American who traveled from the US to Japan to pursue her dream as a voice actor. Sally is also a part of 22/7, an idol unit produced by Yasushi Akimoto (of AKB48 fame) and Aniplex, as the character Sakura Fujima. She joins us to talk a bit about her career and how it’s like to live in Japan as a voice actress!
KKS: When you first started out in the industry, you spoke about how you initially wanted to break in as solely a voice actor, but you’ve entered your career as an idol voice actor. How has that whole journey been for you?
Sally: When I first started in 22/7 as a voice actress and idol, it was really hard for me emotionally and mentally because I never dreamed of becoming an idol. I always loved idols, but it was never my dream. And it was never my dream to be on stage and perform in front of people. So that was really hard for me, but right now I’m really grateful for the whole entire experience because I feel like every experience I have, I could use it in my acting career and I feel like for idols there are certain emotions that only idols are able to feel. Like I’ve been a competitive figure skater for over ten years, but even with that experience, like, I thought I had a pretty special experience and I thought I felt all like different kinds of emotions. But as an idol, they were just like so much more to it. Like so much more. I feel like dark emotions as well as happy emotions and it really helped me throughout my whole entire voice acting career as well. So right now I’m really thankful that I’m able to do both.
KKS: On the side, you upload vlogs to a YouTube channel about your daily life. Do you see it as an outlet for other creative expressions you can’t do normally?
Sally: I don’t know if my YouTube channel would be considered creative (Laughs) My low quality YouTube channel. I kind of use it as a place that’s not very creative actually because as an idol and voice actor, I feel like whenever the camera’s on, I always have to be like a happy person. But on my YouTube channel, I’m able to show how I’m really like behind the scenes, you know? And my voice is not that high. My eyes are not that shiny. So I use it in a way to show people that I just live a normal, regular life. Just because I’m an idol and voice actor, nothing about me is special. It’s a job. It’s like we’re all the same, you know? It just so happens to be the thing I do is voice acting and idol.
KKS: But there’s so much creative…. Captions!
Sally: Yeah. That it happened. It first started off because whenever I told jokes in English, it didn’t really translate well in Japanese. I feel like a lot of jokes: You have to be part of that culture as well to really understand it. So I wanted the video to be entertaining for both audiences, so I thought that for that to happen, I had to change the Subtitles. So yeah, that’s where it first started off. And then now I can’t stop doing it. When I do normal subtitles, people are like whose channel is this?
KKS: There are a number of titles where you perform both the English and Japanese roles of a character, do you approach the roles differently depending on the language?
Sally: So I try not to make the English version as emotional as the Japanese version just because I feel like the language in general. Japanese…I don’t know how to explain it. Like hiragana, you pronounce every syllable, you know, So it’s easier to put an emotion into every syllable. Like, for instance, Ohayo! (Good Morning). You can change the key in every syllable. But in English, you can’t be like, Good morning. Like, that’s just so awkward. I try making it sound as natural as possible. I just feel doing anime acting in English just kind of makes it too much as a language. Whereas then if you say it in Japanese it works better. I feel like in English I try acting as natural as possible so it doesn’t become too over the top.
KKS: Do you have any specific cases of a character you play?
Sally: Oh, Carol from Tomo-chan is a Girl! The English version, I feel like was a lot flatter when I said the lines.And her tone of voice was like 0.1 lower than the Japanese version. I changed that also just because, like, I know that when people speak in English, their voice kind of comes from their stomachs. It just tends to become lower. So I felt like it shouldn’t be the same key., I changed that up a bit as well.
KKS: Did you do a lot of shouting while voicing Kiriko from Overwatch?
Sally: It was the first time I did anything like her, you know, I usually do the bubbly airhead kind of characters. All my characters are like Sakura Fujima and Carol. Yeah, they’re really funny characters, but Kiriko is really like badass and sarcastic and just me in general doing fight scenes was my first time. So usually in games you would sit down and read the lines without moving, but for Kiriko because I couldn’t do it sitting down. I asked if I could stand up and actually punch. I pretend like I’m running while I read her lines to make it more realistic. And yeah, so it was my first time actually moving that much in a voice acting booth.
KKS: On Social Media, it’s no surprise you’re a big fan of Gintama and Sugita Tomokazu (who plays Gintoki), you posted a photo earlier this year where you had the chance to meet him in person. What was going through your mind?
Sally: So the very first time I met him wasn’t actually this year. It was actually day one of my voice acting career. Yeah, it was like, like literally 6 to 7 years ago in an anime called Dive!! It’s a sports Anime. And I was one of the mob characters. I was a student B and that character was actually a character that introduced Sugita-san’s character. “Oh my god, the next athlete is Atsuhiko Yamada.” That was my very first line and Sugita-san was there. When I first went into the studio, I made sure he couldn’t tell I was a big fan. I wanted to keep it as professional as possible in my head. I was crying and screaming and kicking, but I was like, I got to keep it professional. I got to act like everybody is the same. So I was finally able to tell him that I was a big fan. Actually, it was last year when I met him on the game Project:;COLD. It was one of the things that he did the casting for. I was finally able to tell him that I was a huge fan and I came to Japan because of him and after that he came to two of my shows. I do one radio and one show on Nico Nama. It was really awesome. It was truly a dream come true.
KKS: Yeah wow, it’s a bucket list item for you.
Sally: Yeah, definitely. I mean, that was the only thing on my bucket list. I’m like, I can die tomorrow.
KKS: Any voice actors that you really want to meet, but you haven’t had a chance yet?
Sally: Oh, my gosh. I haven’t met Kana Hanazawa-san and I’ve met a lot of people, but I haven’t really acted with them yet. Like we’ve just been in the same recording booth or like, you know, we were in the booth near each other. So I’ve walked past people before, but you know, I would really love to have a role with Kobayashi Yuu-san as well. She’s one of the people that I really look up to and Yuki Aoi-san. Just so many people that have a distinct way of acting. I feel like they have their own character in there and they have something really special. So I really want to meet them and take something from them, you know?
KKS: Here’s a question from a reader: Do you have any tips to overcome anxiety when it comes to public appearance and speaking?
Sally: Yea, so I pretend that I’m a Shonen manga protagonist. And so I’m really bad at public speaking and meeting people in real life and talking to them. I’m nothing like what I am online, you know, because I get so nervous whenever I feel like I’m a Shonen manga protagonist, especially the bubbly ones like Hinata from Haikyuu!, I’m usually like, What would Hinata do in this situation? Like whenever he hits a wall or something, like, what would Hinata do? So whenever I start getting anxiety, like Hinata wouldn’t have anxiety. Shonen manga protagonists would never. They would love this public speaking experience. Just pretend like you’re the protagonist of the show.
KKS: Do you feel like you’re kind of the main character in their own story right now?
Sally: I try to believe that I am the main character. Yeah, but usually I never fall in love with the main characters. I usually like the bad guys and stuff. Yeah. Like Geto Suguru from Jujutsu Kaisen, so I would love to be somebody’s antagonist, but right now I don’t think I’m anybody’s antagonist. Maybe one day.
KKS: What would you like to eventually play an antagonist character?
Sally: Definitely. I love two-faced people. You know, my favorite TV characters are the people that are really happy in front of people, but like behind the scenes, I don’t know, maybe they’re like kicking dumpsters and everything. I would love to play a character like that. They have two personalities.
KKS: Is there anything like you haven’t done back in the States that you’ve done on this particular trip?
Sally: I mean I went to Target. That was really peak. Like anytime back in the states, my goal is literally just to go to Target and stock up on Hot Cheetos that they don’t sell in Japan because the powder they use is… it’s illegal, right? It’s illegal in Japan. So they sell Hot Cheetos (in Japan), but it is so different. So I buy it in America and I stock it up in Japan.
KKS: Are you really glad that you have a pretty large Western following?
Sally: Yes. (Laughs) How do you say “Chigakunai?” I’m sorry. I’m losing my English ability, even though it’s my first language (Laughs) Chigakunai. Like it never feels real. That’s the word. Because when I used to live in America, in Los Angeles, all my friends were from the Internet, and I never really had people at school to talk to. So in that case, I just never believe that there is an actual human being that likes me, you know? So whenever I come to these cons and I actually see people come to my Q&A panels, I feel really blessed, being like, “You guys aren’t just like Internet people. You guys are real people. Like, I can’t believe it!” So yeah, I’m really blessed and I feel really happy to be able to connect with them and not have a translator. I feel like speaking in the same language, you connect in a whole different way. So yeah, I’m really happy that I’m able to do that with them.
KKS: Very interesting because I remember hearing some of your earlier interviews like your Japanese wasn’t very that great when you first got there (to Japan), but now that you’ve been there, you feel like you’re starting to lose a grasp on the language.
Sally: Yeah. So I’m not fluent in any language right now. (Laughs) I’m kind of 50% on everything. Yeah, my Japanese pronunciation is, I think it’s like close to perfect right now. But whenever I try reading the scripts, like if they just give it to me on like a live broadcast, I’d be like, I don’t know how to read this unless you like, tell me, like, put hiragana next to the kanji, like, I cannot do this right on the spot. So yeah, my reading and writing is still terrible, but speaking wise, I feel like I got the hang of it in Japanese, but I feel like I lost my English because.
KKS: Early on, could people tell you were not natively from Japan?
Sally: You know, when I first started, when I was taking auditions for agencies, people could tell that I was not fluent in Japanese, but they thought I was fluent because of the way I look. Both my parents are from Japan and they’re full Japanese, so they expect me to use perfect honorifics and everything. But I would start speaking like broken Japanese and in the most informal way possible. So in order for them to know that Japanese isn’t my first language and English is actually my first language, whenever I meet people from different agencies, I would purposely bump into something and be like, “Ouch.” So I can speak in English. So that they’d be like, “Oh, like, is English your first language?” And be like, “Yes, yes, Japanese is that I’m not really good at Japanese” because I don’t want to go into a room and be like, “Hi, English is my first language.” So I kind of give them hints that I’m better at English.
KKS: That about wraps it up for me. It’s so good to see you back in America. Thank you for your time.
Sally: Thank you so much!
Thank you to Anime Central for the interview opportunity.
Sally Amaki
X: https://x.com/sally_amaki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallyamaki/
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